Data silos.  

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You know it’s a problem, you just need the right solution.  

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What steers data silos?  

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Right now, organizations with more than 1,000 employees use over 150 different SaaS applications.  

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Why?  

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Have they ever considered the impact this has on cost, compliance, and productivity?  

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It's not often a positive one.  

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This culture of proliferated adoption can fragment your tech infrastructure, so it’s time to pause, take a moment, and realign your business to ensure software is firstly needed, and secondly, does indeed prove beneficial for long-term growth.  

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Right, let’s explore app accumulation and how this phenomenon can derail entire organisations, without them even realising.  

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Let’s Contextualise Things

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You have 100 employees.

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If they each had access to Slack, Trello, DropBox, and DocuSign, your business could be handed a bill upwards to $9,508 per month.  

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Now consider how you don’t really need any of them.

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What you really need is one app that does everything.

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One Workiro licence costs $39 per user, which equates to $3,900 per month, and gives these 100 staff unlimited access to the same e-signature for documents you get from DocuSign, the same instant chats you get from Slack, the very same file sharing you get with DropBox, and the very same software for managing tasks you get from Trello.  

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More than 50% instantly wiped off businesses expenses each month without losing any of your operational performance.  

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Now think about this from a NetSuite perspective.

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You invested in this software most likely for its ‘single source of truth’.

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So, why has this premise not been extended outside your module?

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If employees outside NetSuite are collaborating with you during an audit, can you imagine the headache from chasing Slack communication and hunting down files locked away in DropBox, all because they’re not sitting alongside key finance records in NetSuite.

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Also consider this likely scenario.

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Your finance team has been given Salesforce licenses just so they can communicate with the sales department.

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Enterprise licences cost $151.63 per user each month – just four licenses will now tip your monthly software expense over the $10k mark.  

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Seems a hefty price to pay for what are sometimes a handful of exchanges each week.  

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What you really need is software that consolidates everything steered by fellow employees through the same app, and making sure this speaks only to NetSuite, forming a coherent trail of action – another ‘single source of truth’.  

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7 Major Silo Problems Caused by App Accumulation

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Data Fragmentation & Duplication

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Imagine customer details were stored in separate CRM, marketing, and eCommerce platforms.  

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This not only consumes copious amounts of storage, but this opens the possibility for inconsistencies and conflicts, as these platforms manipulate data in different ways.  

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It may become tricky to decide which platform holds the ‘truth’.  

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Integrating & Consolidating Data

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More applications will cause an increased number of varied formats and schemas.  

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Again, for NetSuite users, choosing new integrations may prove problematic as they may not always be compatible with your module.  

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Finding an integrated software suite which is purposefully designed for NetSuite, and simply adds features to the very same system eliminates this headache.  

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Data Governance & Compliance

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Accountability is key for business.  

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You need to know who is responsible for handling data should disputes emerge, which is why forming a ‘golden truth’ for data, along with any tasks and subsequent communication may prove crucial when   compiling essential evidence during legal proceedings.  

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Unauthorized access may also increase with more apps being added to your business, as you’ve essentially opened more avenues for cyber-attacks.  

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Operational Efficiency

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Work could easily become duplicated.  

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For example, someone fires out a contract, totally unaware that this has already been signed, simply because the information they need lives in software they don’t have access to.  

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Also think about the time being wasted by this individual, doing work that’s already done, and how this will potentially annoy the customer, as they’re receiving the same document twice.  

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Decision-Making & Strategic Planning

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Decision makers need a fully up-to-date, holistic view of all activity that takes place across the entire business.  

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Using multiple apps, all of which fail to sync automatically with NetSuite will open the floodgates for inaccurate databases, which may suggest your business is healthier that it really is.  

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Overwhelmed Staff

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Information overload is a productivity killer.  

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Using several apps with unique interfaces and functionality could be difficult for certain team members to comprehend, and should just some of these be complex, it may take time to refamiliarise themselves with their intricacies to ensure they can leverage them effectively, and subsequently, reduce data silos.  

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Well-Being & Work-Life Balance

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Data silos may prevent team members from focusing their time on what really matters most.  

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Spending extra time navigating tasks, seeking communication, or backtracking a catalogue of files may lead to a tidal wave of stress and anxiety.  

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Crush Your Data Silos with Team Workiro

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Join our free tech sprawl webinar for a deep dive into data silos, and the tools you need to ensure they don’t spiral your business into chaos outside NetSuite.